Oh wow...if you can pull off not paying for extra hours of bar, that's pretty good. I mean it seems reasonable, obviously...I'm just hoping they can be flexible with some of these things! It's pretty shocking how all of this is adding up. I did a prelim budget based on 75 people and we're at over 28k?!?!?! That doesn't include our site trip or flights for the wedding or anything extra, really. I want fire dancers?!?! I'm thinking sparklers at the least

Your wedding sounds like it's gonna be a blast! Let me know how the extra time works out...

Originally Posted by Boo

As per Ana - 3 hours are included, and I argued with her, that our guests after 3 hours can go get their own drinks and so no need to spend another 2 hours * USD 15 per hour * 50 guests... Well the new coordinator is going back on allot of stuff! I have been assigned a lady but we arent getting anywhere!! At this point I just need to find a night to compile all emails and prices and all details from the last 12 months of planning and just email it to them for now final confirmation!! Sorry way off topic, but basically nothing beyond DJ will be paid for extra time. We also have fire dancers - so hopefully the 4 or so hours of dancing will be a good time!

Yikes! Good luck sifting through your emails!! Hopefully the new wedding coordinator will honor the agreements you already had in place. I would love to extend the reception but I'm just not sure yet that the cost per hour is worth it.. still debating

Originally Posted by Boo

As per Ana - 3 hours are included, and I argued with her, that our guests after 3 hours can go get their own drinks and so no need to spend another 2 hours * USD 15 per hour * 50 guests... Well the new coordinator is going back on allot of stuff! I have been assigned a lady but we arent getting anywhere!! At this point I just need to find a night to compile all emails and prices and all details from the last 12 months of planning and just email it to them for now final confirmation!! Sorry way off topic, but basically nothing beyond DJ will be paid for extra time. We also have fire dancers - so hopefully the 4 or so hours of dancing will be a good time!

My wedding date is Nov 30th and there is another wedding the same day as mine. My new wedding coordinator is Ana.....I know.....another Ana. I am hoping it all works out. She did the same thing to me about re-confirming details of the wedding that we decided a long time ago!!! AHHH frustrating!!!! My dress finally came in yesterday so I am super excited!! I still need to find shoes and jewelry. I have been looking for months for blue or hot pink shoes and I cannot find any that I love!! My chair sashes and table clothes came in from wedding linens direct and they are perfect! Also I just hired EW Cancun to do some decor for the wedding ceremony and reception. They are really good to work with so far and their prices are great. I still don't know about the centerpieces for the tables. If any of you have ideas please let me know! I am also working on a music list for the reception. We have a mix of 20's-50' coming so I want to make sure everyone is dancing!!! We are having DJ doremix. Question to you girls- What time is your cocktail hour and what time is your reception? Does the dj starting playing during dinner or after? Ooh also trying to decide what menu or buffet to have for the reception, what are you girls doing? It feels like everything else is coming together : )

Firedancers, from original Ana were USD 800 for 20 min, and USD 1,000 for 40 min. I asked for 20, as in my opinion 40 min. is just too long and guests will get bored. I had originally signed off on 6 dancers for that price, the new coordinator is saying 4 dancers. It just annoyes me, because to me, if you only then have to pay 4 people, there should be a price break! not like I am expecting all 6 at one time but still!

Ivan from DJ Doremixx will be set up by the time dinner gets going. I am hoping that dinner / speaches / slideshow wont take longer than an hour. He will als bring cold sparklers - additional sparklers are USD 25 or 50, sorry cant remember which, but can look it up if you are interested...probably 50. He comes with 2, and we got 1 extra one. Ivan is also brining the projector and screen, for both USD 350 (and we got the larger screen, its huge!) just in case as this is way cheaper than I would have thought and had given up on the idea until pressed by familia to look into it. My Mom is putting together the slideshow which is great!

That's great! It sounds like you're getting everything togehter! EW Cancun is amazing! They did my ceremony set up and I only wish I would've booked them for the reception decor too. You might want to ask Rafaelle at EW if he has any ideas for the reception tables. He can send you pictures of different set ups and then you wouldn't have to worry about it getting done. What are your colors? I still have a ton of inspiration photos saved. We did the music tech and he played our dinner music so I'm sure the DJ would do that too.

For the cocktail hour, I think it depends on the time of the wedding and reception. If you have a big gap in time between the ceremony and reception I would do the cocktail hour right after the ceremony while you're getting pictures. That way your guests won't be starving by the time of the reception.

Originally Posted by t1219

My wedding date is Nov 30th and there is another wedding the same day as mine. My new wedding coordinator is Ana.....I know.....another Ana. I am hoping it all works out. She did the same thing to me about re-confirming details of the wedding that we decided a long time ago!!! AHHH frustrating!!!! My dress finally came in yesterday so I am super excited!! I still need to find shoes and jewelry. I have been looking for months for blue or hot pink shoes and I cannot find any that I love!! My chair sashes and table clothes came in from wedding linens direct and they are perfect! Also I just hired EW Cancun to do some decor for the wedding ceremony and reception. They are really good to work with so far and their prices are great. I still don't know about the centerpieces for the tables. If any of you have ideas please let me know! I am also working on a music list for the reception. We have a mix of 20's-50' coming so I want to make sure everyone is dancing!!! We are having DJ doremix. Question to you girls- What time is your cocktail hour and what time is your reception? Does the dj starting playing during dinner or after? Ooh also trying to decide what menu or buffet to have for the reception, what are you girls doing? It feels like everything else is coming together : )

Not bad pricing for the fire dancers but again, annoying that the story keeps changing. I work in corporate events (for 6 years) and we get everything in writing and wouldn't DARE change things, it's hard to understand how they do it this way...this is what I have to look forward to for the next year?!?! Uh oh!

Firedancers, from original Ana were USD 800 for 20 min, and USD 1,000 for 40 min. I asked for 20, as in my opinion 40 min. is just too long and guests will get bored. I had originally signed off on 6 dancers for that price, the new coordinator is saying 4 dancers. It just annoyes me, because to me, if you only then have to pay 4 people, there should be a price break! not like I am expecting all 6 at one time but still!

Ivan from DJ Doremixx will be set up by the time dinner gets going. I am hoping that dinner / speaches / slideshow wont take longer than an hour. He will als bring cold sparklers - additional sparklers are USD 25 or 50, sorry cant remember which, but can look it up if you are interested...probably 50. He comes with 2, and we got 1 extra one. Ivan is also brining the projector and screen, for both USD 350 (and we got the larger screen, its huge!) just in case as this is way cheaper than I would have thought and had given up on the idea until pressed by familia to look into it. My Mom is putting together the slideshow which is great!

Hi Ladies! I am getting married on Nov. 24 at Dreams, and have had the hardest time trying to get all my details together (with the wedding planners changed and the airline we were using going bankrupt--Air Mexicana!).

We have exactly 50 people and have decided to go with the Ultimate package because it includes most of the things we need. In addition, we have to pay for each person (over 20) for food buffet, cake and champagne. We are getting married on the beach at 3, cocktail hour 4-5 and then dinner on the deck at 5:30. Other than having a mariachi band during the cocktail hour, I can't get any straight answers about what I can do to spruce up the reception. We don't want a DJ and will just move everyone into the dance club after a few hours of dinner/drinks.

Does anyone have any suggestions about where to start with decorations? I LOVE the idea of having sparklers...can you send them down or buy them in Cancun? As for bringing favors/welcome bags..did anyone go shopping once they got down there or bring everything themselves?

We are using Claudia Rodrigues (www.claudiaphoto.com) as our photographer, but also get one through the resort/and a videographer because of our package.

Any recommendations/suggestions would be so helpful, I am feeling really behind and lost right now. Best of luck to you all!

Not bad pricing for the fire dancers but again, annoying that the story keeps changing. I work in corporate events (for 6 years) and we get everything in writing and wouldn't DARE change things, it's hard to understand how they do it this way...this is what I have to look forward to for the next year?!?! Uh oh!

What are cold sparklers?

Funny you mentioned the slide show, I think we're going to do one too. FI and I have known each other since 5th grade and have the same hometown so we have some fun pictures . Good to know that Ivan can bring the equipment. It's going to look okay outside? I guess if it's a big screen, yeah... Let me know how this works too!! What point in the night are you doing it? I was kind of imagining right after our first dance...like it starts while our dance ends? I'm not sure if that'll be awkward though, really haven't thought it through. Maybe before or after speeches? Like you, I want all the scheduled stuff to be done pretty quickly so we can just have fun!!

sorry most of the links I get are to you tube and I cant open those up at work to direct you to one, but googling cold fireworks should give you an idea, just imagine a large sparkler, maybe 4 or 5 feet high shooting sparklers from the ground - I think it looks beautiful for the first dance (one of the advantages of having a DJ is that they will bring stuff like that)

I also went to a local grocery store and bough a whole bunch of sparklers, but I got huge ones, about a foot long that you can hold. I have seen some great pictures of the couple making a heart out of them or writing out love (think very long exposure) anyhow right before our photog leaves I plan to hand them out (we got enough for about half the guests as FH doesnt think that any of his boys will partake) I am hoping to just throw them into checked luggage and call it a day. Although we will be there for about a week before, all I am planning on buying is water bottles (I had water bottle labels made, but to haul water just seemed too much). Finish our drink umbrella place seatings (It will be mostly done here, but final assembly there) and also I was thinking of getting some cuban cigars and mexican themed shot glasses for the guys. Thats it, and I figure I can do all of this very quickly while still hanging out with family and friends, I would much rather just spend time with them then plan once we get there (just my 2 cents)

I have been to a number of outdoor weddings, this will be a first Mexican one though, and I think that the slideshow outside looks great - I think ours is 2 by 3 meters. so 6 by 9 feet or so, so its huge! Kinda scared to see myself in that much detail

I was thinking of starting our slideshow during dinner, and also have our 3 toasts during dinner. At the same time I will also ask Ivan (DJ Doremixx) to just keep the slideshow going for a while after in the background. Might be kinda fun to just see it loop. Mom is putting it together and it should be about 15 min. (90 pictures)

Ok, that's totally what I was imagining when you said you were going to have three cold sparklers. I figured they must be the big guys. I really like the way those look in photos. And for the hand held ones, I was thinking exactly what you are, doing it as the last thing before the photog leaves (maybe an hour before the reception ends). There's a good website that I found that has cute, creative ways of displaying them for people to take. I'll try to find it...

Sounds like you've got most of it planned out. I think a week ahead of time will let you get things done at a leisurely pace so you're not frantic. How fun!!

Originally Posted by Boo

sorry most of the links I get are to you tube and I cant open those up at work to direct you to one, but googling cold fireworks should give you an idea, just imagine a large sparkler, maybe 4 or 5 feet high shooting sparklers from the ground - I think it looks beautiful for the first dance (one of the advantages of having a DJ is that they will bring stuff like that)

I also went to a local grocery store and bough a whole bunch of sparklers, but I got huge ones, about a foot long that you can hold. I have seen some great pictures of the couple making a heart out of them or writing out love (think very long exposure) anyhow right before our photog leaves I plan to hand them out (we got enough for about half the guests as FH doesnt think that any of his boys will partake) I am hoping to just throw them into checked luggage and call it a day. Although we will be there for about a week before, all I am planning on buying is water bottles (I had water bottle labels made, but to haul water just seemed too much). Finish our drink umbrella place seatings (It will be mostly done here, but final assembly there) and also I was thinking of getting some cuban cigars and mexican themed shot glasses for the guys. Thats it, and I figure I can do all of this very quickly while still hanging out with family and friends, I would much rather just spend time with them then plan once we get there (just my 2 cents)

I have been to a number of outdoor weddings, this will be a first Mexican one though, and I think that the slideshow outside looks great - I think ours is 2 by 3 meters. so 6 by 9 feet or so, so its huge! Kinda scared to see myself in that much detail

I was thinking of starting our slideshow during dinner, and also have our 3 toasts during dinner. At the same time I will also ask Ivan (DJ Doremixx) to just keep the slideshow going for a while after in the background. Might be kinda fun to just see it loop. Mom is putting it together and it should be about 15 min. (90 pictures)